Training program 'gets real' for police officers

In less than an hour, Shari Greenwood took on a group of armed individuals, a hostile situation on a beach and a man stabbing a woman in a car.

Colleen McBrien

In less than an hour, Shari Greenwood took on a group of armed individuals, a hostile situation on a beach and a man stabbing a woman in a car.

After shooting all the offenders, the McCook police officer put down her fake gun and received advice on her technique from four other local police officers.

Greenwood was taking part in Advanced Interactive Systems’ PRISim program, which Countryside police have borrowed for a week from the South Suburban Association of Chiefs of Police.

Held for the past week in a trailer in the parking lot of the old Pleasantview Fire Department at 5745 La Grange Road, police officers virtually trained for real-life situations.

“It’s a judgmental shooting system where (officers) go through a scenario and they’re put in a shoot-or-don’t-shoot situation,” Countryside Deputy Chief Scott Novak said. “They need to make the proper decision to use deadly force.”

Kraig Floyd, a Countryside police investigator, attended a three-day training seminar to learn how to project more than 1,000 scenarios onto a large video screen. He also learned how to point a laser at the officer in training and shoot out a small plastic ball to simulate the officer being shot at, he said.

“We’re trying to take care of shooting and getting shot,” Floyd said. “We put pressure on them here.”

Set in one part of a small trailer with the lights off, an officer goes through about six scenarios for 30 minutes, Novak said. Floyd said he can change scenario outcomes depending on how well the officer responds to the situation.

Novak said all Countryside police officers were required to complete the training and he plans on bringing it back every year. He said about 80 Hodgkins, Brookfield, McCook, Indian Head Park and officers from the Drug Enforcement Agency participated.

“We get them in scenarios where they really get involved,” said Mario DePasquale, a McCook sergeant who directed participating officers. “It gets real.”